


The Honeymoon Phase is Over

by BeanieJedi33



Series: Life Lessons Learned [9]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Angst, Boyfriends, College Student Dean Winchester, Dean Winchester Has Issues, Dean Winchester Has Self-Esteem Issues, Fluff, M/M, Professor Castiel, Student Dean Winchester
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-28
Updated: 2018-09-28
Packaged: 2019-07-18 11:16:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,814
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16117280
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BeanieJedi33/pseuds/BeanieJedi33
Summary: It's the weekend after homecoming. Dean, Anna, and Charlie discuss midterm grades. Dean gets annoyed with Anna bragging about her scores, so Dean makes sure to improve his intelligence. Cas knows something's up with Dean and tries to confront Dean, and as usual, Dean pushes him off and gets mad, and this is their first real fight as a couple





	The Honeymoon Phase is Over

The Monday after homecoming came faster than Dean expected. But then again, unlike most people on campus, he was mostly sober during it because his family came to visit him. Dean soon found himself waiting outside the lecture hall for Dr. Novak’s lecture. He couldn’t wait to see his favorite professor again. They had plans to go on a date that weekend and that thought alone was getting Dean through this seemingly endless Monday.

“Hey, Dean,” Charlie greeted him.

“Oh, hey Charlie,”

“So, how was your weekend?” Charlie was a little too excited to know about Dean’s weekend.

“Fine,” Dean said confused. “Why was I supposed to do something special?” Dean asked.

“Well, I was just wondering if you and Anna did anything?”

“Oh,” Dean looked around making sure Anna wasn’t around, before pulling Charlie aside away from the other students. “Look, here’s the thing. I’m currently dating someone. And before you ask who it is, I can’t tell you. It’s complicated. I know Anna likes me, but truth is, I don’t like her. I find her too much. She’s annoying and just won’t take a hint and leave me alone,”

“Dean, I had no idea you were seeing someone and I had no idea how you felt about Anna. Now I feel bad for suggesting you two hang out this weekend,”

“It’s okay, Charlie. You didn’t know. Let’s just keep this between us, please,”

“Of course, Dean,”

The two of them walked back over towards the other students.

“Oh, hey guys,” Anna said, greeting them as they walked back over.

 _Oh you’ve got to be kidding me_ Dean thought.

“Hey, Anna,” Charlie replied.

“How was the rest of your guys’ weekends?”

“Good,” Charlie said.

“Fine,” Dean mumbled.

“Oh, have I told you guys? I emailed Dr. Novak about getting a couple extra points back on my midterm. He said I could stop by today after class and talk about it. I’m hoping I can get them back, because if I do, I’ll have gotten a 96%”

“That’s great, Anna,” Charlie replied.

“Yeah, it’s probably the highest in the class or at least close to it,” Anna boasted. “Oh, and did I tell you that also in the email, Dr. Novak said I was one of his smartest students and he really enjoyed my responses on my exam,” Anna continued to brag.

“Well, it’s not the highest, I can tell you that,” Dean jumped in, getting annoyed that Anna was bragging like that.

“How do you know, Dean?” Anna asked.

“Because I got a 98% and Dr. Novak told me I was extremely thoughtful in my responses,” and with that Dean stormed into the lecture hall, never looking back.

Anna and Charlie were left shocked just standing there. Anna walked off leaving Charlie alone. She was angry when she heard Dean got a higher score than her. She knew Dean was smart, but it still wasn’t fair. She was a history major with a mythology minor, she should know this information better than someone like Dean who was only in the class to get another humanities class to graduate. Anna spent the entire class trying to figure out how Dean could have possibly gotten a better score than her. She was obsessed with finding out how. She kept watching as Dean was answering questions that Dr. Novak asked, and she had to admit that Dean did know a lot. Perhaps Dean really just knew this material better than her.

Dean figured Anna was watching him throughout the entire lecture. He made sure to raise his hand often whenever Dr. Novak said something to say something insightful or ask a thoughtful question. Dean wanted to prove he knew was he was doing in this class.

When class was over, Dean went into Dr. Novak’s office to visit his office hours. Of course, Dean had no intention of actually doing work today. 

“Hello, Dr. Novak,” Dean knocked on his door as he entered.

“Hello, please come in and close the door,” Cas replied.

Dean entered and closed the door behind him. “Hey, Cas,”

“Hey, Dean. Oh, I wanted to tell you, you were great in lecture today. You really had some insightful comments today. Not that you don’t always have nice things to say, but today you just did extra well,”

“Well, uh, see before class, Anna had started to brag about how you might give her extra points back on the midterm and you said her answers on the exam were thoughtful and how she might have gotten the highest grade in the class, and I kinda snapped. I told her I got a 98% so there was no way she was the highest grade. And then I made sure to say all those things in class just to prove I knew what I was doing,”

“Dean, I don’t have much time to talk since Anna will be here soon to discuss her exam with me, but I can’t overlook what you just told me, Dean,”

“What do you mean? I just got a little defensive is all and a little bit angry,”

“Dean, while I’m a professor of mythology, not psychology, I do know that some of your behavior is indicative of some issues. For instance, you said that you immediately wanted Anna to know that your score was better after she bragged about her score and bragged about my comments. Perhaps it’s because you feel insecure in your own abilities and wanted to show both her and yourself that you are indeed smart. And you said you felt the need to prove it by constantly raising your hand, making sure to say intelligent things to prove to her that you belong. Again, this could be a way of proving to yourself that you belong. You don’t have the best self-esteem when it comes to your intelligence, Dean. Perhaps this was a way of showing that to yourself. And by doing it in front of a class, you wanted to show everyone that you are intelligent, perhaps because many people in the past have doubted you or said you weren’t smart enough or good enough, Dean. And while, I don’t know much about your past relationships, the fact you got jealous when I complemented Anna shows to me you’ve been damaged a lot in the past by some of your relationships, making you very insecure. Dean, I’m no expert in solving these problems, but the university does offer free counseling. Maybe you should consider making an appointment. There’s nothing wrong with getting help,”

Dean couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He just wanted to come in to Dr. Novak’s office, make out a little with him and ask him if he had chosen an activity for their date this weekend. The last thing he needed was a lecture about his personal problems or a deeper look into all that was wrong with him. It’s not like Dean didn’t know Dr. Novak was out of his league and could do much better than him. And now it looked like Cas was finally realizing that. 

“You know what, Dr. Novak, screw you. You don’t know anything about me. I just came here to ask you what we were going to do for our date this weekend, and now I’m regretting even coming in here. I have work to do. I’ll see you later,” Dean stormed off, slamming the door behind him. He didn’t even register the fact he passed Anna in the hallway. 

Cas was left standing there speechless. He knew Dean would probably get defensive, but he didn’t think he would react that badly. 

“Hello, Dr. Novak,” an annoyingly cheerful voice said.

“Oh, hello, Anna,”

“Hi, I’m here to discuss something getting points back on my exam,”

“Oh, yes, please come in,”

Dr. Novak went along helping Anna, because it was his job as a professor to assist students, but he was so distracted by Dean he was having trouble focusing. He wanted to make sure Dean was okay. He didn’t like leaving things on a bad note. But then Cas started to wonder why should he call Dean first? After all, he was only trying to help Dean. And Dean was the one to yell at him and storm out. 

“Dr. Novak?” Anna asked.

“Yes?”

“Are you okay? You’ve been blankly staring for a while now,” Anna pointed out.

“Oh, yes, just some personal matters. My apologies, Anna. Is there anything else you needed?”

“No, I think we covered everything,”

“Okay then. Well, I’ll change your grade to reflect the corrections,”

“Thank you, Dr. Novak,” Anna left.

As Anna walked down the hallway she wondered what was wrong with Dr. Novak. It wasn’t like him to be so unfocused. She wondered if it had anything to do with Dean storming out of his office. But Dr. Novak said it was a personal matter, so it couldn’t have anything to do with Dean, could it?

Later that afternoon, Dean was sitting in the library where he had been all day. He was trying to get work done, but he hadn’t done much work. He was too upset about what had happened in Cas’ office that he couldn’t focus on anything else. Dean knew the way he reacted was bad, after all Cas was only trying to help. Dean just hated that Cas hit a nerve and seemed to be able to figure him out so easily. It’s like Cas had X-ray vision and was able to see all the Dean tried to hide or didn’t want to show. Dean wasn’t sure what upset him more, how easily Cas knew how to figure Dean out or the fact that Cas was absolutely right. There wasn’t a single thing Cas said that wasn’t true. Dean sighed. He knew Cas only wanted to help him because he loved him. That wasn’t something Dean was used to, and he had no idea how to handle that. Dean knew what he had to do.

“Hey, Dean, mind if I join you?” Anna asked as she walked up to where Dean was sitting.

Dean was wondering when he should go have a conversation with Cas, and he figured now was a good a time as any. “I’m actually leaving. I have a tutoring session to get to, but feel free to take this table,” Dean quickly packed up his things and headed to Dr. Novak’s office.

Dr. Novak was sitting at his desk reading some essays he was grading, when he heard someone knocking at the door. He checked the clock and wondered who it could be. It was well past office hours, and most of the professors he normally talked to had either gone home for the day or were teaching a class at this time. “Come in,” 

“Hey, Cas, can we talk?” Dean said.

“Yes, Dean, please come in,”

**Author's Note:**

> So, we're starting to get somewhere with the plot finally. Hope you like it  
> Twitter: Beaniejedi33


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